A rock band who made their mark on the Brisbane scene long before Facebook and Spotify took over the world, Spillage were at their prime throughout the '90s.
Though the band came to an end as the new millennium arrived and life's other challenges took over each band member's respective lives, after a two-plus decade gap between releases, Spillage recently returned dropping the singles 'You Said No' and 'Unawares', both of which will feature on a forthcoming Spillage album.Here, the band's bass player Tony de Pasquale shares a story from the band's past when they were double booked with another band to perform at the old pub on North Stradbroke Island.
"If you're not from South East QLD you may not have heard of 'Straddie'," begins Tony.
"Stradbroke Island (also known as Minjerribah by the local Quandamooka folks) is just off the coast of Brisbane. You can only get there by barge.
"It's a magic place. In my mind it's a cross between 'Adventure Island' and 'Gilligan's Island'.
"Back in the day before the fancy pub was built, there was an old pub that sat on the cliff. In my opinion it's up there for the best ocean views of any pub – the other being the Pacific Hotel at Yamba.
"The pub had a great band room – which actually functioned as the bistro until about 8pm.
"A lot of great bands would make the one-hour trek across Moreton Bay to play there. They'd give you accommodation and you'd play on Saturday night.
"The crowd was always large, rowdy and fully into it. We loved playing there.
"Now I cannot confirm or deny who was actually involved in the following shenanigans, so I'm changing the names to protect the (Spillage) idiots."
Double Trouble
The band is on the barge with their gear on a trailer. Of course everyone starts drinking and smoking hotties on the barge.The guys see a van, which also has band gear in it. They get talking to these guys and realise they've both been booked to play the pub that night. The pub had double booked by mistake.
Race ya...
The roadie had a good idea (what an oxymoron). Drive as fast as possible to get to the pub first and stake their claim.All was going well until they took a corner too quickly and the trailer flipped and all their gear went flying. While repacking the trailer band #2 whizzed past.
The boys finally got to the pub only to be told what they already knew. They'd been double booked. They're allowed to stay the night, but they can't play.
Alternative Rock
The boys have another idea. There's another venue on the island, Samarinda – it was a holiday resort. Don't think that this joint is all fancy pants – it's more caravan park style. There were little huts scattered on the dunes built in the '30s with two sets of double bunks in each.There was a community bathroom where you'd catch crabs. You could literally catch 10-inch sandcrabs scurrying across the floor.
There was a little bar/ community room as well. The manager said they could play there, but they wouldn't get paid any cash – they would give them some booze. Uh-oh!
Rack em Up!
The boys took that as an invitation to drink as much as they could in 30 minutes. After they'd racked up a $500 bill, the manager was getting a bit shirty and told them to get up and play.The lead guitarist stumbled to his guitar case and pulled out his guitar. The neck immediately fell away from the body. It had snapped into two pieces courtesy of their previous accident. The strings were the only thing keeping it together.
There was no lead guitar, four drunk musos who couldn't stand up and a roadie curled up on the floor. Time to grab the gear and bolt.
Keep Australia Beautiful
To top off the weekend, as the band was leaving the next morning with their tail between their legs, one of the guys was sucking down a ciggie and irresponsibly threw the butt out the window.It flew into the trailer and got caught up in a blanket that was wrapped around one of the Marshall heads. The amp smouldered away and disfigured it so much they called it Freddy Kruger.
So there you have it. One of the great tours of South East Queensland that never was.
